KATHMANDU: The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels has reached a dangerous juncture. Ballistic missiles hit the administrative compound of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, in the eastern Saudi city of Dhahran on Tuesday night. Saudi state news agency SPA quoted an energy ministry official as saying on Wednesday that the building caught fire after the attack but there were no casualties. <\/p>\n
A source close to the company said the missile strike damaged the top three floors of the office building, Reuters reported. The source and two other people familiar with the matter said the building caught fire. However, reports about responsibility for the attack did not provide independent confirmation. <\/p>\n
The Aramco complex serves as a major operating hub for the company. One of the largest oil companies in the world, Aramco is a key pillar of Saudi Arabia’s economy. Its network of operations includes oil wells, pipelines, refineries, and export terminals. <\/p>\n
The Saudi-led coalition claimed that pieces of missiles that had been intercepted on Dhahran fell on residential areas. However, no details of the damage were provided. Officials also said they would intercept and destroy missiles and drones in Riyadh and the southern part of the country. <\/p>\n
Earlier on Tuesday, a cabinet meeting chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warned the Houthis of “dire consequences” for their repeated attacks. <\/p>\n
The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks on key Saudi targets, including the airport in the capital, Riyadh, since last week. On Saturday, a ballistic missile attack on Riyadh airport killed 13 people. It is believed to be the deadliest attack on Saudi Arabia in the past decade. <\/p>\n
Flight services within Saudi Arabia have also been disrupted due to the constant attacks. This development comes at a time when Saudi Arabia is hosting a major energy conference. <\/p>\n
Before the attack on Dhahran, Houthi spokesman Yahya Sari warned of “serious and painful” action in response to the Saudi-led coalition’s attack on Yemen’s capital Sana’a. According to him, possible targets included Aram’s headquarters in Dhahran and an oil refinery in Riyadh. The Houthis also warned oil sector workers in Saudi Arabia to stay away from places they considered potential targets. -Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KATHMANDU: The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels has reached a dangerous juncture. Ballistic missiles hit the administrative compound of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, in the eastern Saudi city of Dhahran on Tuesday night. Saudi state news agency SPA quoted an energy ministry official as saying on Wednesday that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":210985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45044,45159],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news-en","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319789,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319788\/revisions\/319789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/media\/210985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}